Hi everyone! Sorry for taking so long to update, but I've been enjoying the end of summer weather (i.e. reading comics at the pool instead of staying inside and editing fanfic). Today's chapter offers a look at Tony's life between the events of Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier; we know that he did some work for SHIELD, so here's what Tony's daily life might have looked like for most of Phase Two. Thanks for your reviews and I'll see you again soon!
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Marvel Universe, just fanart and feels. :)
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"I'm just saying, it would have been nice to have options," Tony said, dodging a missile.
"Do you really want to talk about this now?" Rhodey said, blowing up one of the tanks that was trying to blow them out of the sky.
"I just think it's a little unfair," Tony said, surveying the camp below. The terrorist group currently trying to blow them up had stolen weapons from the Iraqi army, and now they had made the ill-advised decision to take on both Iron Man and War Machine. Also, according to intel, they apparently wanted to invade Iran, so Tony and Rhodey were there to stop an international incident that could get people killed before it even started.
"Nobody gets to pick their superhero name though," Rhodey pointed out, dodging an RPG. "Did Steve get to pick Captain America?"
"That's different," Tony argued, taking out another tank. "He was part of the WWII propaganda machine. "Super Steve" wouldn't have had the same ring to it as Captain America."
"Okay, we're done here," Rhodey said, referring to both the conversation and what was left of the terrorist group. Their weapons destroyed, they were fleeing into the desert, both in trucks and on foot. "Don't you have a meeting with SHIELD today?"
"Why do you know that?" Tony wondered. "Have you been reading my day planner?"
"I only guessed because you have a meeting with SHIELD every day," Rhodey said, the eye roll obvious in his tone of voice. "The new helicarriers almost finished?"
"Getting there. The new engines still aren't as efficient as they could be. Still, they're a big improvement over the old design—thanks entirely to me, I feel compelled to add."
"Of course you do," Rhodey said, with more eye-rolling. "All right, I've gotta report back to base. There's a team en route to arrest the guys who got away—at least we got all the weapons first."
"See you for lunch Friday?" Tony asked. "Our new Malibu place is finally finished."
"Yeah, I'll stop by," Rhodey said.
"Bring a date," Tony suggested.
"Not gonna dignify that with a response," Rhodey said, and flew off. Tony resisted the urge to ask about the attractive pilot he'd mentioned a while back. As far as Tony could tell, Rhodey hadn't been on date in months. Of course, James Rhodes was a busy man—almost as busy as Tony.
He made it back to DC in six hours. (It would have taken at least twice that in an airplane, Tony always noted with satisfaction.) He stepped out of the suit on the landing pad closest to SHIELD headquarters, then headed for the building that contained Fury's office. Tony knew his way around the place, but before he could even get inside (or take off the shades he'd put on when he'd exited the suit), Maria Hill was there, waiting to escort him.
"I do know where I'm going," he pointed out. "Last time was a fluke."
"Yes, I'm aware of that," Hill said with a smile. "I'm just here to make sure you don't wander into any more restricted areas."
"Yeah, totally a fluke," Tony said. "How do I get higher security clearance again?"
"For starters, maybe don't wander around SHIELD headquarters being nosy," Hill said, opening the door to Fury's office.
"I'm just curious about how SHIELD operates," Tony said. "I'm used to being at the top of an organization, not somewhere in the middle."
"SHIELD was a top secret organization for a long time, Tony," Fury said, exchanging a look with Hill before she left the office. "You'll forgive us for being a little cagey. Just because you're building us some new tech doesn't mean I'm about to share all my secrets."
"Fine, but all that Level Seven stuff: I want in on that," Tony said. "What exactly do you guys have to hide after that tesseract BS? More alien tech? Different aliens? Is Area 51 a real thing?"
"I wish SHIELD's biggest problems were on other planets," Fury said wearily. "Right now, my biggest headaches are right here on earth."
"I'm choosing to ignore the fact that I was standing right here when you said that," Tony said, and Fury smiled slightly, eyeing Tony with that look that always reminded him that his dad had been friends with this guy.
"Tell me about our new helicarriers," Fury said, leading the way to the hanger. "How soon can we get them in the air?"
"Here's the latest on the new engines," Tony said, using his phone to pull up the most recent schematics. "40% more efficient than the old ones, but I'm thinking we can do better. At this point, I tweak a few things, run more tests, and we can begin production in six months. End of the year if you want something a little less utilitarian. Nicer break rooms for your agents maybe? Espresso machines?"
"Six months sounds like a plan," Fury said. They were in the hanger now, studying the current model of helicarrier. "Now that we're out in the open, it's becoming harder than ever for SHIELD to manage threats. Stark Tech can help with that."
"Why didn't you bring me in sooner?" Tony wondered. "If my dad was neck deep in SHIELD stuff, why didn't you have me come in and upgrade all your toys years ago?"
"Because I wasn't planning on having my top secret organization very publicly help stop an alien invasion," Fury said dryly. "And before you got lost in the desert...well, let's just say that I wouldn't trust that guy to bring me a cup of coffee, let alone keep top secret information to himself."
"Fair enough—that guy was an asshole," Tony admitted.
"Let's just say that I trust you now though," Fury said. "Thanks for the update, Tony."
"So what am I, Level 6 now?" Tony wondered.
"Not just yet," Fury said. "Finish the new engines and then maybe we'll talk Level 5 stuff."
Tony shook his head. "If I'm a Level 4, where's Pepper at?"
"I'm not at liberty to disclose that information," Fury said, clearly trying not to smile.
"Fine, I'll go home and ask," Tony said, waving to Fury and heading out of the hanger. His suit was where he'd left it parked, and just before sunset, he was landing at Avengers Tower. (He'd finally changed the sign, since people insisted on calling it that.)
He and Pepper still had an apartment there for when one or both of them had business in New York, but they'd expanded the living quarters of the building so that the other Avengers had rooms too. Which was great, except when he wanted to have a private evening with Pepper and the place was full of people wanting to avenge things—or just hang out. Pepper, true to form, had become friends with all of them too, so Tony didn't really mind having the occasional movie night. There were a lot of movies that Tony firmly believed Steve needed to see—plus he got a kick out of watching Clint try to teach the good Captain and the god of Thunder to play video games. (Unfortunately, they both had a habit of breaking controllers—maybe video games and super strength didn't mix.)
Tonight though, it looked like he and Pepper were alone. She was already there when he reached their living room, taking off her shoes and finishing a phone call. He leaned over the back of the couch to kiss her on the cheek, and she ran her fingers through his hair as she said,
"Tomorrow at nine. Thanks, Happy."
"Tell him I said hi," Tony said, gently rubbing her arms.
"Tony says hi," Pepper said, and Tony could hear Happy groan from the other end of the phone.
"Happy says he doesn't want to overhear us doing anything romantic," Pepper said.
"I didn't say romantic!" Tony heard Happy yell from the other end of the phone. "I said gross! All the kissing stuff with you two is not something I need to listen to!"
"I'm kissing and licking Pepper on the forehead right now, listen," Tony said, trying to grab the phone from her while Happy pretended to gag. (At least, Tony assumed he was pretending.)
"Okay Happy, see you tomorrow," Pepper said, chuckling as she ended the call.
"Hi by the way—and say the word if you're interested in the licking thing," Tony said, wrapping his arms around her. "Big day tomorrow?"
"Yes, Happy will be escorting me to the board meeting at nine—our shareholders are hoping you'll stop in, by the way. Then we're headed to DC for another Senate hearing on clean energy," Pepper said. "We are quickly becoming public enemy number one of fossil fuels."
"In that case, you should relax tonight," Tony said, kissing the back of her neck.
"Stop humping our couch," Pepper chuckled.
"I'm not," Tony insisted. "I was just—pre-humping you."
"You are such a romantic," Pepper said, rolling her eyes as she headed for the kitchen.
"Hey, do you have higher SHIELD security clearance than I do?" Tony wondered. "Because when I stopped by the Triskellion today, Nick Fury strongly implied that you do."
"Unlike you, I don't bug SHIELD to tell me what my security clearance level is, so sure, it's probably higher than yours," Pepper said, pulling some takeout containers out of the fridge.
"In that case, care to divulge any juicy SHIELD secrets?" Tony said.
"Nope," Pepper said cheerfully. "Leftovers okay with you?"
"As long as it's just the two of us for dinner, we could eat Spam and I'd be happy," Tony said, helping to put things in bowls to microwave. (They had leftover Italian, leftover Chinese, and something mysterious that Thor had ordered a few nights before—he loved trying Midgardian food, and was forever leaving leftovers in the fridge to share.)
"Let's try that new Thai place for date night," Pepper said. "Jane told me it's great, though I'm pretty sure they don't have Spam on the menu."
"That was a worst case scenario food, not a suggestion of something we should actually try," Tony said.
"We ate Spam in Hawaii and I recall it actually being pretty good," Pepper pointed out.
"Yeah, but that's Hawaii—they know how to cook Spam there," Tony said, glancing thoughtfully at the TV. "How about I make popcorn too—let's just relax and watch a movie tonight. I should probably go to bed early if I'm going to make an appearance at the board meeting tomorrow."
"Thank you," Pepper said, using the remote to select a movie saved to the TV. "And I'm picking the movie. How about The Screaming Skull?"
"Ugh, that is a phenomenally bad movie, and watching it sounds amazing," Tony said. "I love how it manages to rip off so many better movies."
"I think 'rip off' is putting it generously," Pepper said, helping Tony carry all their food to the coffee table in front of the couch. "That would imply that someone actually thought this movie through."
They ate popcorn and leftovers (and started throwing popcorn at each other when they'd eaten their fill). Then they snuggled on the couch and made out, which was sort of the point of watching terrible movies like The Screaming Skull: if they made out during a good movie, Pepper would worry that she was missing something, plot-wise. But with a terrible movie, it didn't matter.
After the movie, they took a long shower, then went to bed. Tony lay on his side, his arms around Pepper, and as he fell asleep, he wondered how he'd gotten so lucky. Obviously, his life had never been normal, but his new normal was insane: being a superhero was dangerous, expensive, time-consuming…and wonderful. Because when he was done being Iron Man, Tony Stark got to come home to Pepper Potts.